Microsoft Acquires Development Tool Maker

Published: March 28, 2007

by Alex Woodie

Microsoft has acquired devBiz Business Solutions, a provider of .NET development tools for teams of programmers that use Microsoft's Visual Studio, the company announced Monday at a Visual Studio event.

devBiz Business Solutions, a company founded in Rochester, New York, in 2001, is best known for TeamPlain Web Access, a product that allows programmers to access critical parts of Microsoft's Visual Studio Team Foundation Server (TFS)--such as work items, documents, reports, and source control repositories--through a Web browser, opening up the capabilities of TFS to non-Visual Studio users, and letting them forgo the hassle of installing software on their computer.

Brian Harry, a distinguished engineer in Microsoft's Visual Studio Team System, says customers have been telling Microsoft that they want a variety of ways to access TFS. "In fact, this has been one of the most consistent pieces of feedback we've had about the product. This is where devBiz Business Solutions comes in."

"With this acquisition, we can now offer both Windows and Web clients for TFS, making it that much easier for users to participate in the development lifecycle," Harry says. " In addition, the TeamPlain client provides cross-browser access to a core subset of functionality within TFS, making it even more appealing to a broader set of users."

Microsoft plans to incorporate TeamPlain Web Access into a future version of its product, due for release in a couple of months. Until then, developers can download the product, free of charge, from the devBiz Business Solutions Web site.

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